Family & Education

Reverend Kiran Sankhla (किरण सांखला) was born in Jodhpur

Jodhpur

Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...

, Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. She is elder daughter of Retd. Justice Kan Singh Parihar

Kan Singh Parihar

Justice Kan Singh Parihar was a judge of Rajasthan High Court and Vice-Chancellor of Jodhpur University. He belongs to Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.-Early life and education:...

 http://www.justicekansingh.org of Rajasthan High Court. She did her masters in Political Science from the University of Jodhpur, India. She has represented University of Jodhpur in various state level tournaments and won many medals, awards and scholarships.

She is married to Chandra Prakash Sankhla of Jodhpur. Mr. Sankhla left for America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in early 1970 to pursue higher education and Mrs. Kiran Sankhla joined him in 1972. Mrs. Kiran Sankhla finished her thesis work in theology in 1979.

Career & Public Life

Dr. William L. Thomas, vice president, University of Maryland

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

 appointed her as a Chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 of the University of Maryland in 1992 for her outstanding services and extraordinary abilities. Kiran Sankhla is the only woman of Indian origin who has been given this honor. She is also appointed as a Chaplin of the George Washington University

George Washington University

The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

, Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, USA. She is known as Chaplin “The Reverend Sankhla” Sankhla recites texts from The Bhagavad-Gita in the presence of thousands of people and graduating students in every convocation ceremony of the University of Maryland and the George Washington University. The ceremony begins after she delivers prayers and concludes with her blessing and best wishes to the graduating students.

Beside the University of Maryland and the George Washington University She is affiliated to many organizations such as International Society for Krishna Consciousness

International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...

, Indian Student Association, Student Council of India, Hindu Student Council, Forum of American Students and Vedic Cultural Society etc. She organizes vedic culture seminars in Schools and Universities.Sankhla's work has been commended by US President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

, US Senator Hillary Clinton, former Primer Minister of India I. K. Gugral, Ambassador of India to America Naresh Chandra, Congressman Richard Gephardt (The Minority Leader in the US House of Representatives), Ambassador of Russia to USA Yuri V. Ushakov, Ambassador of Hungary to USA Pal Tar, Dr. Karan Singh (Member of Parliament) and Maharaja Shri Gaj Singh of Jodhpur. Dr. Karan Singh quoted in his speech that “Reverend Kiran Sankhla is a true cultural ambassador of India in America”. Also Paul Barry, host of American Broadcasting Company

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

(ABC) and Raghuvir Goyal, host of TV Asia network, introduced her as a “first lady the Hindu Chaplain in the world” on TV interview in Washington.